According to the dictionary, a bromide is an uninteresting, obvious truth. I encountered a flock of bromides last week while reading a hefty package of EU funding instructions. The instructions are lengthy and ponderous. Along with other baggage, they contain such bromides as “a business startup grant may be issued to start up a new business” and “natural disaster compensation is intended to compensate for damage caused by natural disasters.”
Why do instructions so often start this way? Probably it’s an opening format borrowed from nonfiction writing. The authors may believe than regardless of topic, they should start with a definition — even if it doesn’t add anything. This style crops up in other public-sector writing: “Compensation includes salary and other considerations” and “Employees under certain conditions are entitled to holidays and vacations.”
A definition is one way for a writer to get started, but obvious or unnecessary ones just clutter up the narrative. Even this short piece began with a definition — was it a bromide?